curl Examples

Quick curl command examples for testing the B4M Completions API from the command line.

Prerequisites

Set your API key as an environment variable:

export B4M_API_KEY="b4m_live_xxxxxxxxxxxx"

tip

Always use --no-buffer flag to see streaming output in real-time.

Basic Request

Simple completion request:

curl -X POST https://app.bike4mind.com/api/ai/v1/completions \
  -H "X-API-Key: $B4M_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --no-buffer \
  -d '{
    "model": "claude-3-5-sonnet",
    "messages": [
      {"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}
    ]
  }'

Expected output:

data: {"type":"content","text":"Hello! How can I help you today?","usage":{"inputTokens":10,"outputTokens":9}}

data: [DONE]

With Options

Request with temperature and maxTokens:

curl -X POST https://app.bike4mind.com/api/ai/v1/completions \
  -H "X-API-Key: $B4M_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --no-buffer \
  -d '{
    "model": "claude-3-5-sonnet",
    "messages": [
      {"role": "user", "content": "Write a short poem"}
    ],
    "options": {
      "temperature": 0.8,
      "maxTokens": 200
    }
  }'

Multi-turn Conversation

Request with conversation history:

curl -X POST https://app.bike4mind.com/api/ai/v1/completions \
  -H "X-API-Key: $B4M_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --no-buffer \
  -d '{
    "model": "claude-3-5-sonnet",
    "messages": [
      {"role": "user", "content": "What is the capital of France?"},
      {"role": "assistant", "content": "The capital of France is Paris."},
      {"role": "user", "content": "What is its population?"}
    ]
  }'

With System Message

Request with system instructions:

curl -X POST https://app.bike4mind.com/api/ai/v1/completions \
  -H "X-API-Key: $B4M_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --no-buffer \
  -d '{
    "model": "claude-3-5-sonnet",
    "messages": [
      {
        "role": "system",
        "content": "You are a helpful assistant that explains things in simple terms."
      },
      {
        "role": "user",
        "content": "Explain quantum computing"
      }
    ]
  }'

With Tools

Request with tool definitions:

curl -X POST https://app.bike4mind.com/api/ai/v1/completions \
  -H "X-API-Key: $B4M_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --no-buffer \
  -d '{
    "model": "claude-3-5-sonnet",
    "messages": [
      {"role": "user", "content": "What is the weather in London?"}
    ],
    "options": {
      "tools": [
        {
          "toolSchema": {
            "name": "get_weather",
            "description": "Get weather for a location",
            "parameters": {
              "type": "object",
              "properties": {
                "location": {
                  "type": "string",
                  "description": "City name"
                }
              },
              "required": ["location"]
            }
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  }'

Alternative Authentication Headers

Using Authorization: ApiKey

curl -X POST https://app.bike4mind.com/api/ai/v1/completions \
  -H "Authorization: ApiKey $B4M_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --no-buffer \
  -d '{
    "model": "claude-3-5-sonnet",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
  }'

Using Authorization: Bearer

curl -X POST https://app.bike4mind.com/api/ai/v1/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $B4M_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --no-buffer \
  -d '{
    "model": "claude-3-5-sonnet",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
  }'

Debugging with Verbose Output

Show full HTTP request and response headers:

curl -X POST https://app.bike4mind.com/api/ai/v1/completions \
  -H "X-API-Key: $B4M_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --no-buffer \
  -v \
  -d '{
    "model": "claude-3-5-sonnet",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
  }'

Verbose output includes:

Request headers
Response headers (including rate limits)
HTTP status code
SSL/TLS information

Filtering Output

Show only data lines

curl -X POST https://app.bike4mind.com/api/ai/v1/completions \
  -H "X-API-Key: $B4M_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --no-buffer \
  -d '{
    "model": "claude-3-5-sonnet",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Count to 5"}]
  }' | grep "^data:"

Show only HTTP headers

curl -X POST https://app.bike4mind.com/api/ai/v1/completions \
  -H "X-API-Key: $B4M_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --no-buffer \
  -v \
  -d '{
    "model": "claude-3-5-sonnet",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
  }' 2>&1 | grep -E "^(< |> )"

Pretty-print JSON events with jq

curl -X POST https://app.bike4mind.com/api/ai/v1/completions \
  -H "X-API-Key: $B4M_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --no-buffer \
  -d '{
    "model": "claude-3-5-sonnet",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
  }' | while IFS= read -r line; do
    if [[ $line == data:* ]]; then
      data="${line#data: }"
      if [[ $data != "[DONE]" ]]; then
        echo "$data" | jq .
      fi
    fi
  done

Save Output to File

Save complete response to file:

curl -X POST https://app.bike4mind.com/api/ai/v1/completions \
  -H "X-API-Key: $B4M_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --no-buffer \
  -d '{
    "model": "claude-3-5-sonnet",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Write a story"}]
  }' > response.txt

Testing Different Models

Claude 3.5 Sonnet

curl -X POST https://app.bike4mind.com/api/ai/v1/completions \
  -H "X-API-Key: $B4M_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --no-buffer \
  -d '{
    "model": "claude-3-5-sonnet",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
  }'

GPT-4

curl -X POST https://app.bike4mind.com/api/ai/v1/completions \
  -H "X-API-Key: $B4M_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --no-buffer \
  -d '{
    "model": "gpt-4",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
  }'

GPT-3.5 Turbo

curl -X POST https://app.bike4mind.com/api/ai/v1/completions \
  -H "X-API-Key: $B4M_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type": application/json" \
  --no-buffer \
  -d '{
    "model": "gpt-3.5-turbo",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
  }'

Error Testing

Test with invalid API key

curl -X POST https://app.bike4mind.com/api/ai/v1/completions \
  -H "X-API-Key: invalid_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --no-buffer \
  -d '{
    "model": "claude-3-5-sonnet",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
  }'

Expected: HTTP 401 Unauthorized

Test with invalid model

curl -X POST https://app.bike4mind.com/api/ai/v1/completions \
  -H "X-API-Key: $B4M_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --no-buffer \
  -d '{
    "model": "invalid-model",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
  }'

Expected: HTTP 400 Bad Request

Test with missing required field

curl -X POST https://app.bike4mind.com/api/ai/v1/completions \
  -H "X-API-Key: $B4M_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --no-buffer \
  -d '{
    "model": "claude-3-5-sonnet"
  }'

Expected: HTTP 422 Unprocessable Entity (missing messages)

Performance Testing

Measure response time

time curl -X POST https://app.bike4mind.com/api/ai/v1/completions \
  -H "X-API-Key: $B4M_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --no-buffer \
  -d '{
    "model": "claude-3-5-sonnet",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
  }' > /dev/null

Measure time to first byte

curl -w "Time to first byte: %{time_starttransfer}s\n" \
  -X POST https://app.bike4mind.com/api/ai/v1/completions \
  -H "X-API-Key: $B4M_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --no-buffer \
  -d '{
    "model": "claude-3-5-sonnet",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
  }' > /dev/null

Useful curl Options

Option	Description	Example
`--no-buffer`	Disable output buffering (required for streaming)	`curl --no-buffer ...`
`-v`	Verbose output (show headers)	`curl -v ...`
`-s`	Silent mode (hide progress)	`curl -s ...`
`-o file`	Save output to file	`curl -o response.txt ...`
`-w format`	Custom output format	`curl -w "%{http_code}\n" ...`
`-H header`	Add custom header	`curl -H "X-API-Key: ..." ...`
`-d data`	Send POST data	`curl -d '{"key":"value"}' ...`
`-X method`	Specify HTTP method	`curl -X POST ...`

Common Issues

Problem: No streaming output

Symptom: Entire response appears at once instead of streaming

Solution: Always use --no-buffer flag:

curl --no-buffer ...  # Required for streaming

Problem: Binary characters in output

Symptom: Strange characters appear in terminal

Solution: This is normal for SSE. Use grep or jq to filter:

curl ... | grep "^data:" | sed 's/^data: //'

Problem: SSL certificate errors

Symptom: SSL certificate problem

Solution: Use -k to skip certificate verification (development only):

curl -k ...  # Skip SSL verification (insecure, dev only)

Next Steps

JavaScript Examples - Implement in JavaScript
Python Examples - Implement in Python
Best Practices - Production patterns
Streaming Guide - Detailed streaming documentation

Prerequisites​

Basic Request​

With Options​

Multi-turn Conversation​

With System Message​

With Tools​

Alternative Authentication Headers​

Using Authorization: ApiKey​

Using Authorization: Bearer​

Debugging with Verbose Output​

Filtering Output​

Show only data lines​

Show only HTTP headers​

Pretty-print JSON events with jq​

Save Output to File​

Testing Different Models​

Claude 3.5 Sonnet​

GPT-4​

GPT-3.5 Turbo​

Error Testing​

Test with invalid API key​

Test with invalid model​

Test with missing required field​

Performance Testing​

Measure response time​

Measure time to first byte​

Useful curl Options​

Common Issues​

Problem: No streaming output​

Problem: Binary characters in output​

Problem: SSL certificate errors​

Next Steps​